New Lake Co. solid waste chair: No more unproven trash proposals

The Lake County solid waste board should steer clear of commercially unproven processes when considering future plans for consolidating the county's trash disposal, the board's chairman said.

Lake County officials cancel trash-to-ethanol contract

After four years of failed attempts to get a Lake County trash-to-ethanol plant off the drawing room floor, waste district officials unanimously canceled the contract Thursday with a would-be developer.

Compost bags will be available in Hobart beginning Monday

HOBART | The compost bag program will begin Monday for Hobart residents.

Trash takes high-tech, circuitous recycling route at facility

CHICAGO | A labyrinth of conveyor belts, magnets and people move and sort about 600 tons of old plastic bottles, cans and used paper each day.

County recycling districts offer different service levels

Plastic and aluminum sit baled ready for shipment to customers at the Waste Management-Recycling America facility.

County recycling districts offer different service levels

Spotters sort out materials from paper at the Waste Management-Recycling America facility on Chicago's South Side. The 180,000-square-foot facility processes more than 600 tons of paper, plastic, aluminum, tin and cardboard each day. About 1,300 tons came from Northwest Indiana Between Janua…

County recycling districts offer different service levels

Cardboard and other recyclable materials are unloaded and then placed on a conveyor system that carries the material through a sorting process at the Waste Management-Recycling America facility where more than 600 tons of paper, plastic, aluminum, tin and cardboard are processed each day. Ab…

County recycling districts offer different service levels

A series of conveyors and mechanical sorters carry paper and other recyclable material at the Waste Management-Recycling America facility on Chicago's South Side. The facility processes about 650 tons of recyclable waste each day, some of which comes from Northwest Indiana.

County recycling districts offer different service levels

Bales of paper ready to be shipped at the Waste Management-Recycling America facility on Chicago's South Side, where it processes more than 600 tons of paper, plastic, aluminum, tin and cardboard each day.

County recycling districts offer different service levels

A conveyor belt carries cardboard to be sorted at the Waste Management-Recycling America facility on Chicago's South Side.

The power of waste

Two regional facilities produce enough electricity to power several thousand homes, or offset municipal power bills by hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

More communities finding the cash value of recycling

Recycling is good for the ecology and a community's economy, but efforts at recycling vary greatly across the region.

More communities finding the cash value of recycling

Bales of sorted and recycled paper are ready for shipment to customers at the Waste Management-Recycling America facility on Chicago's South Side. The 180,000-square-foot facility processes more than 600 tons of paper, plastic, aluminum, tin and cardboard each day. About 1,300 tons came from…

Not your grandfather's landfills

With at least 20 years of existing capacity at Northwest Indiana landfills -- and room for expansion well beyond that -- there is no need to hit the panic button.

Region legislators seek tighter leash on Lake County solid waste district

INDIANAPOLIS | Two former Lake County solid waste officials are using their newly acquired legislative pulpit to pursue reforms of their former waste management district board.

New Gary garbage contract ends trash can wait list

GARY | A 700-person waiting list for garbage cans in Gary will be history on Monday as the city's new trash hauler rolls out a new cart for every home.

Munster transitions to new garbage pickup

MUNSTER | Residents will see a new solid waste collection system go into effect around March 1, with larger 96-gallon trash cans and recycling totes as well as a new service provider.

Lake Station ranked 30th so far in recycling competition

LAKE STATION | Lake Station is ranked 30th two months into a six-month nationwide recycling challenge, sponsors said.

More of the same or new hope in trash-to-ethanol saga?

A few days after Earl Powers pledged to county solid waste officials that financing for the trash-to-ethanol plant was all but locked up, he offered to sell his interest in the project, a Powers' business associate confirmed.